


The Doctor and Rose Tyler, Forever

by brittishmenorbust



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: AU, Action/Adventure, Canon, Episode: s01e13 The Parting of the Ways, Episode: s01e14 The Christmas Invasion, F/M, OTP Feels, Romance, mostly canon, some - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 09:36:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5285753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brittishmenorbust/pseuds/brittishmenorbust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place from A Parting of the Ways through Christmas Invasion as canon and then I add more fluff and romance.</p><p>**Most of the dialogue and plot that take place during the two episodes mentioned are directly from the show and I do not own them**</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Emergency Programme One

Rose knew this feeling well. The Doctor was doing something stupid. And not just normal stupid, _The Doctor_ stupid. Which, as she stood at the unmoving doors of the TARDIS, appeared to be locking her away while he went to face some great villain alone. Rose banged on the doors begging to be released. The Doctor was out there, facing a hoard of Dalek's ready to kill him and most likely everyone, and he had locked her away.

"Let me out!" she screamed, her fists hammering uselessly against the wooden doors. "Let me out!"

She could feel the TARDIS being to dematerialize. The doors would not budge, so she turned and leaned against them, angry at herself for letting the tears come.

Then she heard his voice.

"This is Emergency Programme One."

Rose's head snapped in the direction of the noise. Her Doctor stood there, next to the bright console. Only, not quite. Rose walked cautiously towards the image and it flickered. It was a hologram.

"Rose, now listen, this is important," the Doctor's voice said, filling the TARDIS with his authority.

Rose moved around the image, but his head did not follow her. He gazed out into nothing. But for once, Rose did as she was told and listened.

"If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal."

"No!" Rose screamed at the hologram. She refused to believe that they were in any worse danger than they ever had been before. There had been plenty of times he must have thought it was the end while he was with her. But nothing like this had ever happened as a response. For him to send her away... For him to have recorded this message in preparation... Rose shook the thoughts away.

"I'm dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape. And that's okay. Hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home."

Rose let out a frustrated groan. She wanted to punch his stupid hologram face. Only the Doctor would think there was a good death to be had. Any universe in which he was not fully alive, Rose wanted no part of. The TARDIS whirred around her and she made sure to keep steady on her feet. The TARDIS was taking her home? She rolled her eyes. It was just like him to think he could handle this on his own, or more likely, that she couldn't handle it. She was a mere human after all, something he constantly reminded her of.

"I won't let you," Rose said pointlessly. It wasn't as though he could hear her.

"And I bet you're fussing and moaning now. Typical," he responded.

Rose almost laughed.

"But hold on and just listen a bit more. The TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Programme One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do. Let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one'll even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world will move on and the box will be buried."

Rose shook her head. No, the TARDIS was too great, it would never be forgotten. She cringed at the thought of it sitting in one place, in one time... forever.

And then he turned to her. She had moved to his side, out of the line of sight of those piercing eyes. But he had known she would. The hologram turned his head to her.

"And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life."

His image flickered with a sad smile and was gone. Rose went cold. He was gone.

"You can't do this to me. You can't. Take me back! Take me back! No!"

She banged her fists against the TARDIS' controls. She pulled levers, pushed buttons, pulled a squishy thing, but nothing worked.

"Come on, fly. How do you fly? Come on, help me!" she begged the TARDIS. The ship was alive, it had a soul. Why wouldn't it help her go back?

It was times like these when Rose hated the Doctor. And by hate, she knew she really loved him. It was when he was being particularly valiant and selfless that she knew she could never live without him. In the end, he always thought he would be alone. He must, he had been for so long. But not anymore. Rose would do anything to show him how not alone he really was. No matter what.

But the TARDIS was not cooperating. Despite her desperate ploys at the machine's gears, the TARDIS landed, shaking the console less than usual.

Rose raced out of the doors, some small feather of hope still lingering, that maybe, just maybe, the TARDIS had brought her somewhere she could help.

But as she stepped out in her neighborhood back on Earth, she simply fell down. Her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, shaking with tears that wouldn't come.

She thought about his face, that leather jacket. He wasn't the type of bloke she'd usually go for. He was a lot older than her, physically and technically. But she didn't care. It was the fact that he was who he was. It was that he made her feel _alive_ in a way no one else had even come close to.

Rose laid her head in her hands and allowed herself to wallow for a few moments. She would never see him again. Ever. Her life would return to some kind of normalcy. The world would go on turning. And she would be the one who would be alone forever.

She heard the footsteps and looked up, seeing Mickey running towards her. Standing up and dusting herself off, Rose stood to face him. His face showed surprise and joy.

"I knew it! I was all the way down Clifton Parade, and I heard the engines. I thought, there's only one thing that makes a noise like that. What is it?"

His face fell when he saw that Rose was dabbing at her eyes, her face swollen. Rose ran to him, letting him hold her against him. Right now, those arms were the only things keeping her from falling apart completely. And now the tears had come. But Mickey didn't mind. He just let her cry, keeping her safe in his arms as she did. It took a while, but Rose composed herself enough to step away.

"He's gone," she managed to say. Her voice sounded unfamiliar to herself. "He put me in the TARDIS and he went to go fight. Alone."

Mickey frowned.

"He's a git," Mickey said decidedly. "What'd he do that for?"

Rose shrugged.

"He thought he was in danger. Fatal danger, Mickey. I can't leave him there, I can't. He needs me."

Mickey's compassionate expression held a strange look of pity.

"But you're safe, yeah?" he asked.

"That's not the point!" Rose nearly screamed.

"Come on," Mickey said, offering an open hand to Rose. Rose looked down at it, and then back at the TARDIS. "We'll figure it out," he added.

Without many other options, Rose took his hand. On the way to the cafe, Mickey called her mother and told her to meet them. It was as though a force field had fallen over Rose. She could hear Mickey telling her mother it was important, she could feel herself moving forward, but she didn't process any of it. Her Doctor was out there, fighting, without her. And here she was, going to get a snack with her mother and friend.

Jackie met them at the cafe and they ordered food. Rose's eyes brimmed with tears at the sight of chips, but she said nothing and stared blankly out the window. The whole world was just going on like nothing had happened.

"Oh, Rose, have something to eat," her mother nudged her chips towards her.

Rose stared at her incredulously. Chips? Seriously?

"Two hundred thousand years in the future, he's dying, and there's nothing I can do!" she exclaimed, causing the woman at the register to turn, alarmed.

Jackie shrugged. "Well, like you said two hundred thousand years. It's way off."

"But it's not. It's now. That fight is happening right now, and he's fighting for us, for the whole planet, and I'm just sitting here eating chips!"

Rose felt as though she would burst. How could everyone be acting so normally when her Doctor was in danger? She wanted to do something, anything to help, but there was nothing to be done.

"Listen to me. God knows I have hated that man, but right now, I love him and do you know why? Because he did the right thing. He sent you back to me."

Jackie's face showed no trace of jest. Rose felt a rush of affection for her, but it was soon lost in the current of helplessness. She glanced back out the window. There were people walking by, laughing, holding hands. It was all meaningless.

"But what do I do every day, mum? What do I do? Get up, catch the bus, go to work, come back home, eat chips and go to bed? Is that it?" Rose would sooner die. She felt farther away from the two of them than ever before.

"It's what the rest of us do," Mickey wouldn't quite meet her gaze.

Rose felt a pang of shame. Mickey had always felt lesser than the Doctor. She had known that he felt that she loved the Doctor more than she ever had him. Although she would never tell him, she knew he was right.

"I can't," Rose said, as gently as her anger would allow.

Mickey finally looked at her, anger written on his features.

"Why, because you're better than us?" he spat.

"No, I didn't mean that," Rose tried to back peddle, feeling guilty for a moment. She took a breath and tried to explain it better. "But it was. It was a better life. And I don't mean all the traveling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know, he showed you too." Rose could feel the passion that the Doctor had always inspired in her rising up. The words tumbled out of her. "That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't."

She was up and out of the cafe before she was really conscious of it. She hadn't even finished her thought, she just heard her own words and knew she couldn't sit there any longer. Rose found herself running back to the TARDIS. She didn't stop herself, although she knew that seeing the blue box and being unable to use it for anything would probably break her heart into a million pieces.

When she reached the street, she stopped cold in her tracks. The concrete, the fences, even the TARDIS. Everything was covered in it. How had she missed it before?

BAD WOLF.

Everywhere. She spun around, looking at all of it. Again she heard Mickey before she saw him. He slowed to a walk and looked at her, worried.

"You can't spend the rest of your life thinking about the Doctor. You've got to start living your own life," Mickey said desperately. He was trying to get her attention, but she wouldn't look at him. She was too busy inspecting the graffiti. "You know, you could have a proper life, like the kind he's never had. The sort of life that you could have with me." Mickey felt himself blush at his own vulnerability, his own childishness. Promising Rose a decent flat and maybe some kids versus the entire universe. Stupid. But he had to try.

Rose had barely heard him.

"Over here. It's over here as well!" Rose ran and touched her fingers to the paint. "Bad wolf," she muttered.

"That's been there for years. It's just a phrase. It's just words," Mickey shrugged, hurt that she hadn't responded to anything he had said.

Rose's mind ran at a mile a minute. Her lips formed the words before she could process them.

"I thought it was a warning. Maybe it's the opposite. Maybe it's a message. The same words written down now and two hundred thousand years in the future. It's a link between me and the Doctor. Bad Wolf here, Bad Wolf there."

She stood, struck by her discovery. Mickey knelt down next to her. One track mind, his Rose. Better just give in to what she was thinking than try to pull her attention elsewhere. Maybe after he had indulged her, she would calm down and start to deal.

"But if it's a message, what's it saying?" he asked calmly.

"It's telling me I can get back. The least I can do is help him escape," Rose smiled at him. Since seeing her earlier, he thought he would never see her smile again. And yet, here it was. The smile that could make a blind man see.

Rose quickly explained to him how the TARDIS' telepathic network operated, how they could probably communicate with it. She explained that the heart of the TARDIS was their best option, and that it might be the only way to get her to the Doctor to save him. She was nearly bouncing with happiness as the prospect, but her smile fell when she saw Mickey looking at her gravely.

"If you go back, you're going to die," he said seriously.

They stood and faced each other.

"That's a risk I've got to take, because there's nothing left for me here," Rose said simply.

Watching his face fall, she felt guilty for the second time this afternoon.

"Nothing?" he asked meekly.

"No," Rose answered faster than she meant to. She flinched, but it was the truth. No point in sugar coating it at this point.

Mickey's face changed from desperation to determination quickly.

"Okay, if that's what you think, let's get this thing open."

He was rewarded with another dazzling smile, but it did little to warm his broken heart.

***

The attempt to open the TARDIS with a mini was hilarious. At least, Rose would have laughed if the situation had been less dire. As it was, the burning tires of Mickey's impossibly small car showed that the TARDIS' grate was not going anywhere. Jackie stood on the sidelines, frowning. Mickey had called her and she came quickly. Despite her statement of happiness at having Rose safe, she was not as adamant on keeping her daughter miserable. And without the Doctor, that seemed to be the case. She knew she would have to help her daughter eventually, but she had to try at least one more time to keep her safe.

She walked calmly up to her daughter and laid her hand gently on her shoulder. Rose jumped, having been enraptured in watching Mickey's fruitless attempts.

"It was never going to work, sweetheart. And the Doctor knew that. He just wanted you to be safe."

Again she silently thanked the madman for having sense for once.

"I can't give up," Rose was shaking her head.

Jackie had seen that look in her eye many times. It was the look that said she could climb the highest tree when she couldn't even reach the first branch - and she had. It was the look that said she could win the gymnastics trophy even though she couldn't balance to save her life - and she had. It was the look her father used to give Jackie when she said something was impossible. Of all the things to inherit.

It was at that moment, thinking about Pete, when Rose said the strangest thing.

"Dad wouldn't give up."

The statement struck Jackie. Not just because of the coincidence of her thoughts, but that her daughter said it as though she _knew._

"Well, we're never going to know," she said. "He's not here."

Rose turned to her with a strange sort of look in her eyes. Sadness, and happiness at once.

"Well, I know because I met him. I met Dad," she said softly. "The Doctor took me back in time, and I met Dad."

Jackie scoffed.

"Don't say that," she said.

But then Rose described the day her husband died in perfect clarity as though it had been yesterday. Some details Jackie didn't remember until she brought them up again. And the woman. The woman who had been with Pete when he died. She remembered that blonde woman. And she knew before Rose even said it, who it had been.

"That's how good the Doctor is!" Rose exclaimed.

Jackie ran. She ran and left Rose behind her wondering why. There was no time to explain.

Rose stood there dumbstruck. Her mother had just abandoned her. She turned back to Mickey for an explanation, but he looked as mystified as her. Only when Jackie returned with the truck did she see. 

Rose was the reason her father did not have to die alone. Now she could be the reason that the Doctor would not have to either.

Jackie jumped out of the truck and handed the keys to Mickey. She walked back over to her daughter and kissed her forehead.

"You're right. Your dad would do this. He was mad."

Rose let out a small, desperate laugh. Mickey hooked up the chain to the truck and got in. The truck sputtered to life and started. Mickey pressed on the gas and the chain straightened. Rose held her breath and waited as he edged the truck. It moved forward, which was more promising than the car. And when Rose heard the snap of the grate opening, she almost jumped with delight. The grate flew off and landed with a crash onto the TARDIS floor. Mickey stopped the truck and got out, but not before Rose could run into the TARDIS.

She ran to the newly exposed center and stared right into it, fearless as ever, desperate as never before.

"Help me," she whispered.

And then it was as if every cell of her being was filled with an enormous amount of energy. Every part of her was alive, sensitive. Light seemed to seep through her. Somewhere in the distance she heard the TARDIS' doors shut and her mother and Mickey's pleas on the outside of them. The TARDIS filled Rose with the time vortex and pushed her to the back of her own mind. Rose held on, but it was a lot to take on, like rushing water in the halls of the Titanic.

She held on for dear life as the TARDIS took off.


	2. Bad Wolf

With part of the time vortex inside her mind, Rose could see _everything._ There was no past, present or future, it was all just _time._

She could see the Doctor now, even though the TARDIS was still hurtling through time and space towards him. With his telepathic link to the TARDIS, to the time vortex, Rose could see him. He was on his knees.

"Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you, coward or killer?" the Dalek emperor's voice boomed through the comm system.

Rose watched as the Doctor hesitated. She knew what he would do - what he would always do. He slipped his hands down to his sides and sighed heavily. Always mercy.

"Coward. Any day," he said triumphantly.

The parts of Rose that were still conscious, and not taken over by the energy, swelled with pride. Before they met she wondered if he would have made the same decision. The Time War had been hard. He didn't talk about it... at all really. But he didn't have to. Rose could read him well enough to know how much it affected him, even if she didn't know the particulars. Rose swelled with pride at his decision and thought of just how much she really loved this man.

It took only a few moments to land the TARDIS easily and open its doors. Although the time energy was doing most of the work for her, Rose wondered if the Doctor would be proud of her. She stepped through the doors as they opened without her touch. Standing there, just as she had seen him in her vision, was the Doctor.

Yellow light poured out of the TARDIS, filling the room with its glow and masking all the blue lights from the consoles and wires. Rose practically floated out towards her Doctor.

Expecting to see pride and astonishment on his face, she faltered a little when she saw concern and fear.

"What've you done?" he asked her, pleaded with her. He ran to her and took her hands in his.

Rose started to feel warm... Too warm. The once light and peaceful energy seemed to be filling more space than she had to offer. She focused her attention on the Doctor's face.

"I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me," she explained, her own voice sounding foreign to her.

The Doctor was breathing hard, searching her face. The daleks were temporarily forgotten.

"You looked into the Time Vortex. Rose, no one's meant to see that."

"This is the Abomination!" screamed the emperor in his machine voice.

Rose saw the measly dalek coming for them and flicked her wrist at it without thinking. The blast that would have surely killed them was stopped in mid air and obliterated. The Doctor's face was pure shock. He stepped closer to her.

"I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here," Rose heard herself say. Again it was as though she was being made to say this by some force, but they were her words too. They were true.

"Rose, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now. You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn," the Doctor pleaded.

He wanted more than anything to undo this. He had sent Rose home for a reason, thinking she was safe. But he should have known. His stupid, brilliant Rose would find a way back to him. She would always find him.

Rose lifted her hand from his to cup his cheek. The Doctor melted a little at such an intimate touch.

"I want you safe. My Doctor. Protected from the false god," she explained, her eyes flickering to the emperor dalek.

"You cannot hurt me. I am immortal!" the dalek exclaimed.

"You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them," she moved her hand again. She focused on every dalek, every cell, every atom, and ripped them apart. Never again would they touch her Doctor.

"Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends."

The words were grim, but Rose meant them. The Doctor's grip on her hand tightened with worry. His eyes were all concern for her, nothing else mattered. Rose felt the power surging through her. The spaces in her mind were filling and she could see more than she ever had before. She felt simply invincible. No ordinary human. Not any longer.

"Rose, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go."

The Doctor's voice brought her back from her train of thought. She smiled at him warmly.

"How can I let go of this?" She asked. "I bring life."

She gestured towards Jack Harkness who suddenly drew breath from his previously dead lungs.

"But this is wrong! You can't control life and death," he exclaimed, calling himself a hypocrite silently.

Rose's smile faltered when she felt a strong pulling sensation in her head. It was only uncomfortable at first, but what was a little discomfort compared to invincibility?

"But I can," she corrected him. "The sun and the moon, the day and night. But why do they hurt?" she asked, bringing her hands to her worsening head.

The Doctor searched her face, unknowing what to do for the first time in a long time.

"The power's going to kill you and it's my fault," he said, his voice shaky.

Rose looked at that face. The large nose and big eyes. She smiled inwardly. She had never seen those features composed in such an array of concern. Usually he was completely confident, indifferent... but now...

"My head," Rose whimpered, suddenly feeling the force of a thousand tons weighing on her temples. She felt her knees buckle and threaten to give way beneath her.

"Come here," the Doctor said soothingly, catching her as her legs gave out.

Rose was suddenly very aware of herself and the Doctor's intimate hold on her. They were so close, he was supporting most of her weight. She felt the most extreme pain of her life, as if she were bursting and burning simultaneously.

"It's killing me," she managed to say.

The Doctor looked at her for a moment with a small smile on his face. Rose could only half see it through the pain, but she thought it was the most beautiful sight in the world.

"I think you need a Doctor," he said.

And then the Doctor kissed her. His lips touched hers and the relief was instantaneous. Rose felt the power and energy draining out of her through her lips. The Doctor absorbed all the time energy into himself. In the back of her mind, Rose smiled, thinking of how long she had waited for this moment. She did not have long to contemplate these thoughts though, for as soon as the energy had been drained, she fainted.

The Doctor caught her in his arms as she went completely limp, gently hoisting her up and walking into the TARDIS. He could already feel the consequences of his actions. His body was rejecting the energy, it had been too much too fast. All that mattered right now, however, despite his weakening cells and bursting atoms, was Rose. He gently carried her over the bridge to the console. He laid her down on the floor for lack of a better option and waited. As he watched her vital signs, he carefully brushed a golden strand of hair away from her face.

She was so peaceful like this, so beautiful. Rose was beautiful all the time, he amended mentally, but here she was, with him, in his TARDIS. And that was were she belonged.

It startled him when she woke suddenly, drawing in breath as if she had been drowning. But he soon regained his composure. _Just in time,_ he thought morbidly. He stepped back from her, not wanting any regeneration energy to hit her. Rose watched him, blinking quickly at first, taking in her surroundings.

"What happened?" she asked groggily. It felt like she'd been out for a few hours.

"You don't remember?" the Doctor asked, curious. He certainly did not have time to explain to her all that had occurred. At least... not while he was like this. He smiled gently at her.

"Rose Tyler. I was going take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses. Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny!" he faked a smile for her sake. Always for her sake.

She cocked her head to the side, confused.

"Then, why can't we go?" she asked weakly. She stood slowly, not letting the blood rush to her head.

"Maybe you will, and maybe I will. But not like this," the Doctor said as he watched the yellow energy start to form around his hands. It was never enough time, was it? But now it seemed so more than ever.

"You're not making sense," Rose complained, blessing him with that smile.

"I might never make sense again. I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head. And don't say that's an improvement. But it's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you're going to end up with!" The Doctor rambled. Filibustering would not work with regeneration, but he still tried his best.

The energy started to fill him up but he held it back. He made the mistake of flinching and she decided to go towards him. Rose took a small step towards him with her hands outstretched.

"Doctor?" she asked, her turn to be concerned.

"Stay back!" he warned, holding out his hands to ward her off.

"Doctor, tell me what's going on," she begged, recoiling from him. The tears that had not yet escaped her eyes waited for his answer.

"I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that. Every cell in my body's dying," he explained, happy that it was his cells and not Rose's.

Rose felt a shock of guilt. This was her fault. If she hadn't taken the energy in, he wouldn't have had to save her.

"Can't you do something?" she asked. He was always clever. It wouldn't end like this. Certainly not. There was always a way.

"Yeah, I'm doing it now. Time Lords have this little trick, it's sort of a way of cheating death. Except it means I'm going to change, and I'm not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face," he smiled his huge smile at her.

He wondered what she would look like through his new face. Would his eye still catch that flick of her tongue in her smile? Would they appreciate all the radiance of her hair in an alien sun? Would he still linger his glance on her hand, always wanting to hold it?

"Rose, before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic," the Doctor beamed at her. "And do you know what?" he added in a moment of joy, "So was I."

Rose was not prepared for the flash of yellow light that burst out of the Doctor. She held on to the TARDIS' wall as the energy pushed her back. If she had been any closer she would have gone flying backwards. She had to look away as the light became even brighter, obscuring the Doctor's form entirely.

When she felt a whoosh of air pass her, she looked up.

The Doctor was not there. In his exact place stood another man. An entirely different man. This one was tall and lanky, with insane brown hair. The leather jacket that the Doctor had been wearing hung loosely on him. Rose forgot to breathe.

"Hello," this new man greeted enthusiastically. His face showed a bit of shock. "Okay," he closed his mouth and moved his tongue around. "Ooo, new teeth. That's weird," he paused for a moment and then seemed to remember Rose was still there, holding on tightly to the TARDIS walls. "So, where was I?" he asked, grinning widely. "Oh, that's right. Barcelona!"


End file.
